Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington mocked the bullet-riddled brain of a man he and his squad mates executed April 26 in Hamdaniya, Iraq, a fellow defendant testified during Thursday's hearing for Pennington.
In a courtroom at Camp Pendleton, Navy Hospitalman Recruit Melson Bacos also said Pennington couldn't resist a little horseplay with the corpse of Hashim Ibrahim Awad. As Pennington helped put Awad into a body bag, Bacos testified, he played with the victim's hand. ... [full story]

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - It took roughly 20 minutes to read the names of the 100 service members from the 5th Regimental Combat Team who died in Iraq the past year. A Marine called out each name in a somber voice, followed each time by the single chime of a giant bell.
SALUTE - K'Ann Hines, of Ventura and the mother of U. S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Joshua MIichael Hines, one of the 101 ... [full story]

SAN CRISTOBAL, Mexico - Vicente Fox may be gone from office, but the former president of Mexico is making sure he won't be forgotten.
MEXFOX - Alvaro Castillo, 27, welds the foundation for the presidential library and museum former Mexican President Vicente Fox is building on his family ranch in San Cristobal, Guanajuato. Fox plans to open the first phase of the library and museum on July 2, the anniversary of his historic election to ... [full story]

COLUMBUS, OHIO - Maybe, what Ohio needs is David Copperfield, the master of illusion.
With a wave of a wand last week, House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, declared school funding fixed and constitutional.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled four times that the funding method was unconstitutional, primarily because of the over-reliance on property taxes. Then the court washed its hands of the long-running case called DeRolph I, II, III and IV in 2003 and left ... [full story]

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court's review of a lawsuit next week challenging President Bush's faith-based initiative is more critical to the future of church-state relations than it would first appear, attorneys involved in the case said Wednesday.
In the narrowest sense, the case - Hein vs. Freedom from Religion Foundation - is about whether taxpayers have the legal standing to sue the federal government over regional conferences sponsored by the Bush administration to promote its ... [full story]

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency recommended Wednesday that a landfill said to be on fire be denied a license to operate, but provided an out to keep it in business.
In a letter to William Franks, Stark County's health commissioner, Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski said the Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility "is not in substantial compliance with Ohio's environmental laws."
The health board is expected to read the letter Thursday at ... [full story]

Climate change and soaring population growth across the Southwest threaten to overwhelm the main water source for tens of millions of people, the National Research Council said Wednesday in a major report that synthesized decades of research on the Colorado River basin.
The potentially affected areas include San Diego County, which received about 60 percent of its water from the river last year. The region gets most of its remaining water from Northern California rivers, ... [full story]

Retired Rear Adm. Jose Luis Betancourt, the "Navy Mayor" of San Diego who went on to become chief administrative officer of San Diego City Schools, is under federal investigation and may face conflict-of-interest charges over his relationship with two government contractors.
Investigators with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are trying to determine whether Betancourt violated a federal law that prohibits certain high-ranking government officials from employment with contractors for one year after retirement. Betancourt said ... [full story]

A federal jury convicted former Monroe County, Fla., Attorney of conspiring to obstruct a federal grand jury and witness tampering, Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta Jr. of the Southern District of Florida announced today.
After deliberating for approximately two hours, the jury found James T. Hendrick, 59, of Key West, Fla., guilty on one count of conspiracy, one count of obstruction of justice, and two counts ... [full story]

Aided Tamil Tiger Terrorists in the attempted purchase of surface to air missiles, night vision devices, machine guns and state of the art firearms
Erick Wotulo, age 59, a citizen of the Republic of Indonesia, and a retired Indonesian Marine Corps General, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and money laundering, announced U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein ... [full story]

MACON, Ga. - An Americus, Ga. man was arrested yesterday after being indicted on Feb. 7, 2007, by a federal grand jury charging him with transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.
The indictment alleges that on or about July 1, 2000, Thomas Conrad Lowery, 47, knowingly transported a minor-who was less than 16 years of age- from Georgia to Canada, for the ... [full story]

A Special Agent with the U.S. Department of Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) pleaded guilty today to a charge of conspiring to defraud three Jacksonville, Fla., banks of $106,000, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.
A seven-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Jacksonville on Jan. 10, 2007, charged TIGTA Special Agent John Thomas, Jr. with one count of conspiracy, three counts of bank fraud, ... [full story]

The Subway restaurant chain is pleased to announce the opening of its first kosher location in the New York City area. This marks the sandwich franchise's second North American kosher restaurant and the first of its kind on the East Coast.
Officially opening for business on January 2nd, the restaurant is located at 1219 Avenue J, in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Owned and operated by three Sephardic Jewish business ... [full story]